INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
The Indiana State Board of Education is moving ahead with a plan to
distribute up to $40 million in loans to charter schools despite questions
about a per-student funding cap included in the program.
At least a dozen
charter schools have requested $25 million through the loan program approved
by legislators this spring. More could apply before the deadline at the end
of October.
The board on
Wednesday approved guidelines that include a $1,836-per-student cap on loans
if requests exceed the $40 million level.
Charter schools
have wildly different enrollment numbers than traditional public schools,
which complicates setting such a limit, said James Betley, executive
director of the Indiana Charter School Board. Among those already applying
for loans, two schools have fewer than 70 students and another has 1,040.
“If you are a
school that has an enrollment of 100 but want to take out a loan in order to
purchase a building you’re unlikely able to do that at a capped per-pupil
rate,” Betley told The Indianapolis Star.
The cap is meant to
help ensure schools can repay the loans and to make sure charter school
students can equally benefit from the program, Board of Education spokesman
Marc Lotter said.
Board staffers
devised the cap by dividing the $40 million in available loans by the number
of students attending eligible charter schools. Two of the school loan
requests seek about $45,000 per student.
The two-year state
budget that took effect in July allows for $50 million in loans to the
taxpayer-supported schools that are typically run by private operators. The
education board’s plan sets aside $10 million of that money for next school
year.
The program was
added to the state budget in the final days of this year’s legislative
session and has drawn questions from Senate Appropriations Committee
Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, over the debt loads charter schools
already carry. Two years ago, the state forgave and paid off more than $90
million in charter school loans.
Indiana State
Teachers Association lobbyist John O’Neal questioned whether it was proper
to provide the loans to charter schools that perform poorly on the state’s
A-F grading system.
“Should we be
giving that much money to schools that have D and F grades? Or brand new
charters that don’t have grades at all?” O’Neal asked.